(AP)Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks with reporters from The Associated Press in this file photo.

After nationally televised appearances from the President and House Speaker did little to ease the stalemate in Washington over efforts to raise the nation's debt ceiling, it remains to be seen what impact a failure to reach consensus would have here at home.

Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters in Boston yesterday that he's been having "mostly speculative conversation" with state legislators about the ifs and whens of the debt ceiling debate.

"I say mostly speculative because we haven't gotten any guidance from the federal administration yet about what bills they will choose to pay and which they won't, but we're having to really think through our own contingency plans," Patrick said, adding that his administration would seek to identify "whatever latitude we may have to fill in whatever gaps there may be."

Patrick spoke to reporters before the back-to-back appearances from President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, when two competing plans were pitched but no consensus reached by Congressional leaders. The Associated Press outlines the two plans:

The Senate plan, unveiled Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the proposal announced the same day by Boehner overlap in significant ways. Both identify about $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to the day-to-day operating budgets of government agencies, though Reid's proposal also counts an extra $1 trillion in savings from winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both proposals would create a bipartisan congressional commission to identify further deficit reductions, especially in major health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The primary difference between the two is timing. Reid's proposal would raise the debt ceiling enough so that it wouldn't have to be reconsidered until 2013, beyond the 2012 elections, as demanded by Obama. The GOP plan would only extend the debt ceiling for about six months.

Congress has until August 2 to raise the debt ceiling before the nation would default on its debt obligations, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

In Boston yesterday, Patrick was quick to paint any efforts by the Commonwealth to gauge the impact of a default as "speculative," but in a letter to Congressional leaders last week called the prospect a "preventable crisis."

"Failure by the U.S. government to meet its obligations to the Commonwealth for even a short period of time could create a serious state cash flow issue," Patrick wrote.

Materials from the State House News Service and Associated Press were used in this post.